A small teapot stands quietly on the tea table, its shape is simple and its color is dim, like a star with its light restrained. The body of the teapot is just enough to hold, and the sand grains are vaguely raised, but it is like a miniature of mountains and rivers.
It is not as ostentatious as the utensils in the hall, nor as delicate as porcelain bottles and jade cups. It just sits steadily in a corner, humble but self-sufficient. Although the body of the pot is small, the belly of the pot has its own world, as if the whole world is quietly placed in this small clay.
When the boiling water was first poured, the teapot was filled with clouds and mist, and the tea fragrance came out from the spout with hot air. The small teapot body is like the universe, able to swallow up the wind and clouds, and accommodate the boiling excitement. The water vapor is rising, just like the vitality of heaven and earth, and the clouds are lingering.
After this baptism, the teapot body becomes more calm and warm, and the color also shows a restrained luster as if it has been soaked by time. Under the boiling water, the teapot is silent and not only does it not seem cramped, but it seems to expand the mind invisibly - it turns out that the boundary between small and large has always been only in the pattern of the heart, not in the size of the body.
The tea in the teapot is just ready, and the soup is clear, like jade and autumn water. After the tea smoke has dissipated, only a clear and transparent piece of tea is left in the cup, without any dust. In this clarity, there is the power to cleanse the noise.
When the tea soup enters the mouth, the tip of the tongue is lingering with only the true fragrance of plants and trees, without the entanglement of the turbid world. The purity of tea lies in that it filters out the glitz and pretense, leaving only the most simple and authentic taste in the world. It refuses to be contaminated by the filth of interests, nor does it participate in the noisy disputes of right and wrong in the world. It only reflects the vanity and obsession of the human heart with its own clarity.
A small teapot can contain the energy of the universe, and clear tea can cleanse the heart of right and wrong. The two are in harmony, the teapot with its tiny body contains the boiling water, and the tea with its pure quality returns the world to clarity.
The turmoil of the world is like boiling water. If you can imitate the tolerance and calmness of the pot, your heart will be like the belly of the pot, and even a small space can contain the wind and clouds of the world; the worldly entanglements are like the foam in the tea. If you can follow the clear nature of tea, your mind will be like tea soup, and the smoke and dust will dissipate, and you will eventually see the clear sky.
The fusion of the pot and the tea is a silent revelation. When a clear arc of light pours from the spout of the pot into the cup, the world seems to be clarified at this moment.
The tea stains on the table spread silently, just like the complicated world will eventually settle, and only a clear world will remain in the heart, without dust or disturbance. This tiny object carries the eternal desire for tranquility and self-sufficiency in the depths of our souls.
